The Silken Tent

She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when the sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,
And only by one’s going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

Poor baby wants to be shakespear, but he’s to weak. Anyone who shares such weakness, whether by loneliess or hurt, and tries to draw from this poem will remain so – is that, in its nature turned out, not beatiful?

After his wife died he fell in love with a gal by the name of Kay Morrison. This poem is actually about her. There is no deep meaning about women rights or anything like that. Sorry. Doing research about the poet will tell you alot about the poem. Just a tip.

In my opinion the poem talks about a woman’s faith (silken tent-feels very soft but very hard to tear) in God (cedar pole) , which is being put into test.That even in the thick of temptation (sunny summer breeze) she holds on to be chaste…. Bless her..

Negro, this poem aint about no white itch in a tent its about jesus and the reencarnation into a BLACK JESUS! AMEN! and for the dude from belgium you should read this poem again cuasue you got this shizncik all WRONG! IT be looking like a HOT MESS! so once you get your shiz together you come back on here and give another comment untill then go suck on someting… EVIL LAUGH AS I LEAVE!

cuz guys are just ropes. but it’s an interesting idea and maybe you can come up with something that would be backed up by the poem but still way out there…like, bondage doesn’t really sound so great – what’s up with that?

I think this poem is beautiful, it’s about a women, and how there are many strings or ropes holding her up, but without them she would be nothing. Without a rope to hold up the tent, the tent would just be a pile on the ground…

a beautiful poem with a typical indian concept of how the woman is fragile and also bound by traditional ties of responsibilities and duties , and yet strong morally and emotionally . Her life is guided by her conscience and her love encompasses all around her. Storms may bombard all around her but like the ‘central pole’ her soul looks heavenward and she remains steadfast.

The poem is actually written about a flirt. He starts by calling her beuatiful and then precedes to speak about guys, which in this case means I think guy wires. Wires used to hold a pole up. She has many “guys.” He then talks about her “sureness” and then goes on to say that when one rope becomes taut she feels confined and moves on.

The tent in my opinion is a women’s soul (perhaps his wife or a daughter who he was close to) and the cedar pole is trying to uplift her to heaven. The silken ties are perhaps the love and memories that are keeping her spirit close to earth. Now, I feel that Frost’s other poems such as God’s Garden and The Path Not Taken set up a spirtual background for his later poetry, creating this understanding of God and Nature. I feel that in this poem Frost expresses an rare understanding of the hardships of letting loved ones go, even when our thoughts are keeping that person from fully moveing on.

This is one of the great love poems of the C20 century. Frost speaks of an ideal relationship between man and woman, seeing her as both committed and free – there is a link here to the loving observation of the woman in Simon and Garfunkle´s Bride over Troubled Water. Incidentally, the supporting central cedar pole is surely intended as a sexual reference. A great poem by an evergreen poet.
Andrew

I think it’s wonderful how so many different interpretations can be made from this poem. The doesn’t seem to be all that straightforward with a single conceited (dominating) idea. From what I gather from reading this poem and what I’ve read from these comments, Frost may have been trying to incorporate several meanings into this poem. I think everyone is correct on this one. I believe that poetry is how you, the reader, interpret it and how you connect it to your own personal life or beliefs.

I believe the tent to be all of us. The pole is our dreams and ambition. The ties are the Earthly ties that keep us well rounded and in touch with reality. Without these ties that seem to restrict us, we would fall and our achievements would not be so high.

Im at this presnt time, writing a coparison between the silken tent and shakespeare’s sonnet 71. I was interested to find what others thought the ropes and the cedar pole signified in this poem. One of the comments mentioned that they thought the pole signified god holding up the tent. I see the pole as the backbone of the woaman, confident to stand without aid or being pulled back by anyone. She has come through a storm “dried the dew” signifiying in my oppinion an argument with her partner. Even though the ropes were tought and pulling on the cedar pole sh stayed strong. I’m not sure what exactly the ropes are and if anyone has any suggestions i would be very interested to know what they think.

a friend of mine, an english teacher, quoted from this poem to help her explain to me how one’s commitments and the things that “tie us down” are an integral part of our identity as a free person. Without any attachments whatsoever, one is just a pile of cloth, however beautiful.
With only ‘earthly’ ties,(ropes that have their stake in the ground and spread the cloth out) a person can be ‘opened up, and noticed by the world.” They will even look full and complete if the ropes’ pulls are carefully balanced. But, having no ‘higer’ dimension, the cloth can offer little shelter to others, and is at the mercy of the other commitments; she may be ‘streatched too thin’, ‘flattened’ into shallowness by the nagging tensions of daily life.
Only when the supporting pole, God, is in it’s proper, central position, can the tent truely be a tent. then, the wider and more diverse the other stakes are, more they serve to open the cloth and better display the qualities of her weave. With a deeply anchored ceter pole, no other event or person can pull the tent down and destroy her usefullness and beauty.

I think Frost is explaining the supression of women in society. The silken tent being the woman, and her ties of love and thought being responsibilties that overwhelm her. She is rigid and ” taugt” because she has no room to grow.

This the Pinnical of Robert Frost Romantic Poems.
It ties two people together in Love that surpasses
all but the Saviors love for sinfull man. All other
is of the flesh, this exceeds them all. This is one of the Poems that made love Poetry.

The imagery is so descriptive. You can picture the whole scene; the day, the whether, the tent, the field. Yet while it is so clear what Frost is talking about, it is only there to tell of another event. This independent individual. A person so strong that nothing has control over them. This is an admirable person that others are in awe of. They almost seem divine, but then every now and again you get a slight glimpse into their earthly side. This part that has friends and family and is in some way tied to the earth- this part that shows when the wind blows.

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